MJs Hogwarts Journal Chapter 18

Wednesday 16^th October

Blondie’s challenged Potter to a midnight duel. Of all the stupid things to do. He’s so publicising it too. I’m surprised that the teachers haven’t given him detention already. “Oh, that Potter boy and the weasel won’t know what hit ‘em,” he jeered at the Slytherin table at dinner time. By ‘the weasel’ I had figured out that Blondie was referring to Potter’s red-haired, freckly friend, Weasley. I kept my head down, in case socialising with him earned me the detention that he deserves.

Okay, so I had Jed explain to me everything involved in a wizarding duel. Basically, it’s a lot like when two people in a Weston movie agree to a draw. Two wizards stand back to back, take so many paces then turn around and shoot a spell at one another. “It usually roles in a sort of attack, defence pattern,” Jed explained. “Whoever wins the attacking spell first usually casts a defensive one next. Then his opponent tries to attack, only to get a hex thrown back at him. In real duels it isn’t over until someone gets seriously hurt – or dies.” Throwing a hand over my mouth, I gasped.

“Is that even legal?” I squealed when he told me.

“This sorta thing can happen a lot,” said Jed with a shrug. “So longs as the intentions aren’t to kill or to cause life-long harm or distress, then it’s legally okay with the Ministry. Causing death isn’t legal, but it’s been known to happen. Usually a duel comes about when two people want to prove their powers to another, or I guess the old fashioned way would be to fight for a hand in marriage – the wizard who lasted the longest in the duel would win the hand of the bride.”

I felt the frown on my forehead deepen the more Jed spoke. I don’t know why I was so surprised. I’ve heard of so much stuff that wizards get away with that no one back home would ever dream of. Like letting First-Year students near an open fire, use chemically dangerous ingredients for potions and walking up and down the winding staircase of an eroding castle. This just seemed so, so… stupid. I’ve seen Westerns. None of them end well for one of the characters. Someone dies. Someone always dies.

“He won’t go through with it,” Jed declared as Blondie got up and went to go and boast to some Fifth-Years. “His dad would never let ‘im ‘ear the end of it – an’ he knows it.” Stuffing a huge spoonful of mash potato in his mouth Jed grumbled, “He’s all talk.”

Staring over at Malfoy I found myself smiling. That boy wasn’t stupid. I bet he knew what he was doing: creating a huge deal over something, making it look so ginormous that the entire school knows about it. Everyone will be expecting a result from it. But, he won’t show. Not that he’s chicken, no, there’s logic behind it. A midnight duel? The school rules state that all students below Fifth-Years must be in their rooms by eight o’clock and even the older students aren’t allowed out after ten. Teachers must be on the prowl around the school at night. Arh ha! Ghosts don’t need sleep. I bet the ghosts patrol the corridors at night – parading up and down, keeping a watchful eye out for students. Blondie’s expecting that Potter’s so hot-headed that he’ll follow through with it – anything to get back at Malfoy. But if Blondie doesn’t show up, Potter and Weasley will get busted for sure. Good plan Blondie. Good plan.

*

I hadn’t realised that six whole weeks had gone by already. This morning at breakfast, Jed received another letter from home. As his little brown, speckled owl perched herself down beside Jed’s bacon and eggs, I stared at the envelope that she had dropped in front of her. Jed’s mom’s handwriting was quite swirly – you could tell that a lot of time had always gone into her letters. They weren’t scruffy and the ink hadn’t smudged (like what had happened with my History of Magic homework yesterday). The envelope simply read:

‘Mr. J. Edwards,

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.’

As he opened it, I leant a little closer, trying to read it over his shoulder. She asked him how school was, hoping that he was doing well in all of his classes. She asked if he was eating well – he definitely wasn’t starving – I could tell her that. Jed’s just lucky that he has a fast metabolism. If I’d have eaten all what he did, I’d have probably nearly gained a stone by now. She asked how Vince and Blondie were – wanting to make sure that the boys had been keeping out of mischief. At the end of her letter, she even asked about me and Josie.

‘And I hope that your friends MJ and Josie are doing alright too. They sound like lovely girls and I’m glad that they seem to be keeping you in your place. Send them my best wishes.’

Pinching my lips tight, my eyes started welling up. That was so kind of her… and I didn’t even know her. This was the third letter that Jed had received from his parents since we had started, which I’m guessing means that he’s probably only ever sent her two letters back and he’s already spoken about me and Josie to her.

Nudging my elbow, Jed said to me, “My mom says t’ say, “Hi,” so, hi MJ.” I laughed at him.

“She seems really nice,” I told him. Jed just shrugged.

“She’s okay,” he said through a mouthful of breakfast.

“You must thank her for me,” I said. “I mean it Jed.” He’d probably forget – I’ll have to try and find him when he decides to write back to her and bug him constantly until he does.

Smiling, I watched Peggy nuzzle her head against Jed’s arm. Looking down at her, Jed rubbed a thumb to her head. “At a girl,” he said with a smile. “You’re doin’ great, you know Peg. You haven’t dropped a thing in my breakfast all week.” Pulling apart a bread roll, Jed held the softer, fluffier side towards his owl. She nipped at it, pulling out little bits.

“Can owls eat bread?” I asked him.

“Dunno,” replied Jed. “But Peggy seems t’ like it.”

Biting the inside of my cheek, I gazed down at the letter from Jed’s parents. My stomach swirled my porridge around, like clothes in a washing machine. I let my spoon sink into the bowl. I shuddered. Jed turned to me and asked, “You okay MJ?”

“I’m fine,” I told him. “Just thinking.” As I went back to staring at the letter again, I sang out, “Je-ed…”

“Whar-art?” he replied, copying me.

Turning towards him, I asked, “Do you think that, maybe I could borrow Peggy sometime? It’s just I realised that I haven’t actually written home yet and I was thinking that maybe… if I wrote to my folks… maybe she wouldn’t mind taking it for me… please?”

“Course,” Jed smiled. “J’st let me know when you’ve written it an’ we’ll take it t’ the Owlery.” The Owlery is the place where all of the school’s and students’ owls live. I haven’t been there before, but Scarlett pointed it out to me once as we walked from Herbology to Charms. It’s a large section of the far-left side of the castle. When Scarlett pointed it out to me, we saw a couple of owls swooping into a window. I bet it must be quite busy and noisy being as it’s full of so many owls. I bet there are feathers everywhere. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

*

Throughout the day I’ve been scribbling away at my letter home. I chose to write it to Viki in the end, because I felt a little strange writing to my parents. I just felt like Viki would understand me more and would get excited about things like I did. Anyway, I’m sure I wrote about everything.

I made a list of everything that I wanted to say. That seems like everything. If Viki, somehow, writes back then if there’s anything that I missed out, I guess I could tell here then.

*

The Owlery was amazing. Jed took me there straight after dinner. I was a little worried that we might get lost, as we had to walk down parts of the school that I had never been to before. Thankfully, Jed knew where we were going. “Just one more right turn,” he said as he led me along a thin, cobweb filled corridor. Turning right we appeared outside. Jed took me up a winding staircase. The higher we climbed the fiercer the wind became. Clawing a hand through my hair, I felt like it had turned into a fuzzy nest by the time we reached the top. Walking towards an archway in the wall, Jed said “And here we are,” holding a hand out for me to step inside first.

Squawks sounded as a blast of cold air swept into the tower. I pulled my robes tight around me. The room which we now stood in was round and completely full of owls. And I mean completely full. Everywhere we turned there were hundreds of barn owls with their long brown feathers rustling. Then there were snowy owls – however there were very few of these. And, also, grey and tawny owls with really wide eyes; one hooted at me as I walked past. I felt like we were standing in the centre of a feather farm. Malting feathers littered the floor. In places piles of them lay almost ankle deep.

Looking up straight ahead, I noticed that the windows here weren’t full of glass, which would probably explain why it was so cold. I realised that it was so that the owls could fly freely in and out of the castle as they pleased – this made me smile. I’d hate to imagine them all cooped up in cages. As I was gazing up, a rather elegant-looking, brown, speckled owl shot through the window. Zooming to a space on my left, it nested down, ruffling up its feathers. Staring at it, I noticed its beak was much narrower and vertically pointed than all of the others. “The Malfoys’,” Jed muttered at my side. “It’s an Eurasian eagle-owl – pretty expensive bird.” Arching my head over my shoulder, I turned to face Jed, but he spun away, trying to locate Peggy. One of the tiniest of all the owls, I found out that Peggy was actually a type of scops owl, which is why she is so tiny. Jed gave her my letter and stroked her head.

“Will she be okay?” I asked Jed. I didn’t want to borrow his owl if she wasn’t capable of flying the distance of my parents’ house.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Jed smiled. “Peggy’ll be fine. Won’t ya, Peg?” Peggy gave a little squawk, before fluttering of her perch and shooting off into the night sky.

- Josie -

MJs Hogwarts Journal Chapter 17

Friday 11^th October

I guess I’ve made it through another week of lessons. I didn’t feel like this week would ever end. There is so much homework. How do kids in this school survive? I barely see half of my class in the library at all. Josie, Jed and I are in the library several times a week. And on the weekends. How on Earth do people cope in Fifth and Seventh-Year that have loads of serious exams? They mustn’t ever leave the library. Oh, I really do hope that this stuff starts becoming easier to understand. I had no idea that magic is so heavily theory based. I expected it in Potions and I knew that there would be tonnes of essay writing in History of Magic, but to have to write two parchments on the importance of Jupiter’s moon’s cycles and how different kinetic and magic energies fuse together during a spell, well it just seems silly. I don’t understand why I need to know this stuff.

I’m really tired. It’s so late; it’s got to be coming up to midnight. It was Scarlett’s idea for the four of us to stay up late. I think she just wanted to know what we all thought of her – I think she’s a little insecure. She follows Pansy around a lot and I’m thinking she was concerned that people just thought of her as Pansy’s sidekick – which is so not true. It got me wondering whether people think of me as Jed’s sidekick some of the time, being as I’m always following him around. It makes me wish sometimes that I could be more like Josie. She doesn’t seem to care about what the others think, and she just goes around on her own, not needing anyone to help her find her classroom or show her the quickest and easiest way to get from one lesson to another.

Pansy made us play a game of ‘Truth or Dare’. It wasn’t very exciting though. I was expecting, coming from a bunch of witches, something along the lines of daring each other to try a dangerous spell, or sneak as close as we could to the boys’ rooms and attempt to use the Lumos spell to wake them up continuously or the Incendio spell to start a teeny, tiny fire in the corner of their room without getting caught. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. It seemed to be that Pansy’s idea of the game was to see whether anyone had a crush on any of the boys. She so obviously does on Blondie – it’s kind of scary. Scarlett seems to like Jed’s cousin Vince, but I mean, he’s way older than her – he’s in his fifth year. Thankfully Priscilla doesn’t seem to have gone gar-gar over the boys like the other two have, so I don’t feel as though they think I’m weird. We haven’t even been in this school two months yet and Pansy and Scarlett are already planning who they want as their boyfriends – it’s ridiculous. I can’t believe that Pansy even asked me, “So what’s the deal between you and Jed?” What sort of a question in that? Deal?

“We’re friends,” I told her. “Just friends.”

Gosh! It’s like I just said, we haven’t even been here two months. Who would want to go around jeopardising friendships that we’ve just made? We have to put up with each other for the next seven years. Who wants to think about that sort of thing already? Grrr, they are such girly-girls.

- Josie -

MJs Hogwarts Journal Chapter 16

Monday 7^th October

Yesterday Jed and I went to visit Hagrid again. We didn’t exactly tell Josie that we were going. I kind of feel a little bad, but going without her seems a lot better than bringing her along and she getting upset again. Hagrid gave Jed and me some tea again and we gathered around his table. I actually got to try the tea and cakes this time – we left too early for my tea to cool before. Blowing the edge of the cup, I took a sip. It wasn’t bad. A little sweet, but I guess that if you have giant cutlery you are going to get a lot more sugar in your tea.

“So,” Jed began as he tapped his cake against his saucer. “Hagrid, can you tell us ‘bout what got José so upset last time we came?”

“Well yer see Jeddy-yer,” Hagrid’s eyes shot down to his cup, as he accidentally called Jed ‘Jeddy’ again. It was a good save, mind you. “I ain’t so sure I know.”

“So yer don’t know what got her mad?” asked Jed.

“Not exactly…” mumbled the giant.

“Then yeh do know somethin’,” said Jed, dropping his rock cake. It thudded to the floor.

Fang pounced up from his bed in the far corner of the room and crept towards the dessert. Sniffing at the ground, he edged further towards us. Moving his snout a little from left to right, Fang’s nose appeared to bump into the cake before he had even spotted it. Drooping his tongue out of his jaws, he slobbered all over Jed’s cake. Jed gave a groan before letting Fang eat it and taking another one from the plate on the table.

Hagrid slouched down in his chair and scratched a hand through his bushy hair. “Now, I ain’t sayin’ that I knows nuffin’or anyfink like that,” muttered Hagrid, dipping a cake in his tea. Fang waddled towards me plonked himself down at my side. His head flopped down in my lap and I started stroking his ear. Giving a yawn, Fang fidgeted for a bit, before the lids of his eyes began to close. I smiled down at him and continued listening in on the conversation at hand. “It’s j’st I recognised that girl’s face some’ink terrible,” Hagrid confessed. “‘Cept I’ve been rackin’ my brain ever since t’ figure out why.”

“So yeh don’t know,” Jed sighed.

“Can’t say I do,” the giant replied with a shrug.

I must say, that was a little disappointing. I thought that we had stumbled upon something really interesting there. So, Josie looks like someone that Hagrid once knew. Does this mean that Josie’s family are witches and wizards after all? But from everything that she’s said so far, I know she doesn’t talk about her life outside of Hogwarts, but she’s definitely dropped several hints that she’s Muggle-born. Hagrid could easily be mistaking her for someone else – it’s not unheard of. Don’t they say that everyone has a double out there somewhere? Maybe Josie has one that’s from the wizarding world. Argh, but then the mystery begins with: why did she get so upset? Oh, I don’t know.

“I do know one thing,” Hagrid went on. “That face… that one I recognise… it’s gotta be from me time at Hogwarts. Some’ink j’st keeps drawin’ me back there.” Jed and I looked at each other. My eyes widened so much. “But there’s somethin’ that keeps obscurin’ me from findin’ the right face… an’ I keep getting’ drawn back t’ those eyes. Those unusual stone-grey eyes…”

It’s a shame that Hagrid couldn’t give us anymore, because I’d have loved to have tried to have pieced it all together. I guess it would be pretty impossible to try and got back through every single student who went to Hogwarts during the time that Hagrid did to try and find out who Josie looks most like. And I guess we’d have to try and find someone who has stone-grey eyes too. For some reason I feel like they ring a bell to me too, but I must just be thinking about it too much.

“Maybe we should ask José ‘bout it?” Jed suggested as we stood up to leave.

“Aye wouldn’t be doin’ that if I were you,” warned Hagrid. Jed and I both stared at each other wide-eyed, before turning to face Hagrid.

“What d’you mean?” I asked. Hagrid curled a hand to his mouth.

“Oww dear,” he mumbled. “I shouldn’t a said nuffink. J’st pretend like yer never heard me.” Clattering the cups and saucers that we had just been drinking from, Hagrid pushed himself off his seat and began tidying away.

“So, you do know something…” said Jed with a smile. He plonked himself back down on the chair that he had been sitting in beside Hagrid, and I did the same.

“No, no, no,” muttered Hagrid. “The two of yerh sould get goin’. Don’t yer ‘ave homework or someink to be getting’ on wiv?” Jed and I shook our heads.

“We’re not leaving this spot Hagrid,” I told him with a smile. “Until you tell us what you know.”

Turning his back to us, the giant gave a deep sigh. Running his hands up his face, I watched him rub his eyes, before dragging his hands back down. “Promise not to tell Josie I told yer,” he said as he turned to face us. “I told her I wouldn’t tell no one.”

“So, you have seen her?” said Jed with a frown.

“You’ve spoken to her?” I asked. When? Where? Why? How come Josie hadn’t told us?

“Aye,” he sighed, pulling his chair out. “I shouldn’t a told yer that either.”

“Well now you have to explain,” I told him. “You just have to.”

“Yous ‘ave to promise yer won’t say a word,” Hagrid made us promise. “You aren’t even t’ think about what I’m about t’ tell yer – d’ya hear?” Swallowing, I nodded. Jed did too.

Lowering his head, Hagrid stared down at his hands. Fiddling with his thumbnails he told us, “Yer friend came down t’ see me last Sund’y. She apologised fer getting’ upset, which I told her was fine,” he quickly added looking up first at me, then at Jed. “Then she went on ter tell me why.” Hagrid went back to looking at and fiddling with his nails. “She showed me this piece a paper. It broke me ‘art it did. Broke me bloomin’ heart.” The giant’s eyes began to sparkle. Sniffing he rubbed his eye. “Poor kid,” he muttered. Rubbing his arm across his face, Hagrid sniffed again. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he said, before continuing. “She asked me if I knew anymore. I didn’t,” he stared at me when he said that. “She went t’ cry again, but there was nuffin’ I could do but comfort her, like.” His eyes began to water again. “She’s a good kid though, isn’t she?” he said with a smile as he looked from me to Jed. Pinching his smile inwards, Jed nodded.

Feeling a lump inside my throat, I nodded too. I didn’t and don’t know what to make of all this. Nothing Hagrid said made any sense. Obviously, he can’t tell us being as he swore secrecy to Josie, but why tell us bits without the full picture? And why was he crying? My chest began to shake. Is there something the matter with Josie? Can we help her? Why has she spoken to Hagrid about it and not us? Aren’t we her friends? We could help her. Or at least we could try. Sliding my hands up my sweatshirt, I hugged myself. Goosepimples prickled up my arms and legs. It wasn’t from the cold. Hagrid had a fire raging in the corner. It was from the fear. The fear of not knowing. Not knowing what Josie was going through or being able to help her. I felt myself welling up the deeper I thought about it.

“She’s one of the best witches in our Year,” I heard Jed say.

“You bet she is,” beamed Hagrid. “I’ve spoken t’ good ol’ Professor Flitwick. Asked ‘im t’ keep an eye on her. He told me she’s a pretty powerful witch. I bet it runs in her blood.” Hagrid lost his smile as he stared down at the table. “Tis a shame though. A real shame,” he mumbled.

“Are you sure you can’t tell us, Hagrid?” I cried. Jed leant over towards me and pressed a hand against my arm.

“Aye,” said Hagrid with a nod. “I’ve told yer too much already. But yer can’t tell Josie. Don’t even breathe a word.” I opened my mouth to object, but only a squeak came out. Hagrid whispered, “Sshhh,” holding a finger up to his mouth. Lowering it he gave me a weak smile, before saying, “She’ll tell yer when the time’s right.”

*

Something exciting happened to me today in Potions. Professor Snape seemed to be in a bad mood. He was exceptionally grumpy this morning. He didn’t even pay Blondie much attention, which is unusual, seeing how he does seem to be Professor Snape’s favourite. With Snape giving us a new potion to try, he stalked around the room with his arms folded behind his back, deducting as many House Points from Gryffindor as he could. “Mister Finnigan, ten points from Gryffindor for stirring your potion in the wrong direction,” muttered the professor as he walked by. “Miss Brown, fifteen points from Gryffindor. You don’t add the spleenwart until after it’s simmered,” he groaned. A few more footsteps were taken before, “Mister Weasley, wands are not cauldron stirrers. Do you want to singe your life and education? Twenty-five points from Gryffindor.”

That was pretty intense – even for Snape. As Professor Snape crept around the classroom, I felt my heart pound to the rhythm of his footsteps. Every time he stopped, I held my breath. My spine tingled. Then when he paced again, my palms grew sweaty. A lump found a way into my throat. With a shaking hand hovering over my potion, I sprinkled in a dash of octopus powder.

“Excellent work, Miss Frost.” I flinched. Professor Snape was stood at my right shoulder, staring down at me. Looking back down at my potion I felt my cheeks burn, as I blushed. “Fifteen points to Slytherin,” he announced. My first lot of House Points! And they were from Professor Snape – I really must be doing something right. Finally! I was the only Slytherin to get House Points that lesson. Correction: I was the only student to get House Points that lesson. That has made me feel all tingly. My stomach feels all pins and needles and I can’t stop smiling. Professor Snape actually praised me. Okay, he is now my favourite teacher!

*

It’s not fair. After such an amazing Potions lesson this morning, I’ve been instantly dragged back down to reality. In Charms, after lunch, Professor Flitwick gave us some really confusing theory homework – and we have to write three whole parchments. There’s all these new confusing terms that he keeps using. Why isn’t magic just as simple as you say a word and wave your wand and presto-changeo the spell happens? It’s so not fair. What’s even more annoying is that I can’t even get Josie’s help with this one, as Professor Flitwick specifically pointed out that he had been giving each of his First-Year classes a different group of spells to start the year off with. Therefore, different spells have different theory – I already figured part that out by myself. I guess I’m going to be doing a lot more studying this week.

- Josie -